I never thought I’d meet a nice man who wanted to marry me. Plenty of lunatics, undoubtedly.- ClaireThere’s a time and a place for spontaneity.- ClaireI loved books. And I loved reading. And I loved men who read. I loved a man who knew his existentialism from his magic-realism.- ClaireI knew i was looking at my destiny. My future.- ClaireI could kind of remember the pain, but it no longer had the power to hurt me.- ClaireI couldn't remeber the details but i could remember the feeling.- ClaireI did realize, in some funny way, through the self-pity and the self-rghteousness, that someday, when all this was over, I might be a nicer person as a result of it, that I would be stronger and wiser and more compassionate.- ClaireI had lived happily ever after--well, at least for a while.- ClaireIf you lose someone or something, you feel a loss, then after a while you fill in the hole in your life and the loss gradually gets smaller and smaller and eventually goes away. There's a point to the pain. There's a reason and a direction.- ClaireDrink never drowns anyone's sorrow. It only teaches them how to swim.- ClaireMaybe he will come back, maybe he won’t, but either way, you’ve got to live through this.- MomIt’ll come back if it’s meant to be. No point in forcing it. It might only drive it away.- ClaireI was crazy to think that I could have got him back just because I wanted him back. Temporary insanity had come a-calling and I had shouted “Come on in, the door is open.”- ClaireMy life was here now. At least for the moment.- ClaireI’d have him know, plenty of men found me attractive. Well, I was sure there must be some somewhere who did. There were three billion people on this planet.- ClaireHe was gorgeous! I liked him myself.- MomIf I was twenty years younger I’d give him a run for his money- MomThere’s nothing I love more than seeing other people arguing. It makes me feel like I’m not the only person in the world who’s miserable.- woman in the streetI’d love to be able to travel through time.- AdamSometimes I wish I could travel back in my own life. You know, go back to a time when I was really happy. Or go back and change things. Fix things that I did wrong. Or do things that I should have done and didn’t.- AdamI just couldn’t tell her. I really didn’t know why. Or maybe I did.- AdamMaybe because it was no longer innocent. Maybe it never was.- ClaireI have a crush on Adam. Or should I say I HAVE A CRUSH ON ADAM!!!!!- ClaireGet over it, and if you can’t get over it, get over talking about it. – LauraPeople are always encouraging each other to do things that they know the other person won’t do. And then get the shock of their lives when the person actually does it.- ClaireI too was worrying about the unimportant and ignoring the vital. Sometimes it’s easier that way.- ClaireI wished there was some kind of switch on my brain. That I could turn it off in the same way that I could turn off the television. Just click it off and immediately empty my mind of all these images and worrying thoughts. And simply leave a blank screen. Or if I could just remove my head and put it on my bedside table and forget about it until morning. And then attach it again when I needed it.- ClaireThe only problem with time mending things is that it takes longer.- ClaireFailed relationships can be described as so much wasted makeup.- ClaireI’d hit him where it hurt.- ClaireThere are more tears caused by answered prayers than unanswered ones.- ClaireI knew I loved him. But I couldn’t really remember what it was that I loved about him.- ClaireHe’s not worth going to prison for.- ClaireAnger is good, I told myself. Anger keeps the pain away. Anger empowers me.- ClaireUsually, there’s nothing I enjoy more than seeing a grown man cry. Especially if I’m the one who made him cry. That feeling of power! You just can’t beat it.- ClaireChoose your next words very carefully, you asshole. They may be your last.- ClaireI’ll always be true to what I know I am. I’m going to be me, whether it’s good or bad.- ClaireI wanted my life to be like a computer game. Make the wrong decision and I lose a life. Make the right one and I gain points. I just wanted to know. I just wanted to be sure.- ClaireGod! I hated this business of being grown-up. I hated having to make decisions where I didn’t know what was behind the door. I wanted a world where heroes and villains were clearly labeled. Where ominous music starts playing the minute the villain comes on-screen so you can’t possibly mistake him.- ClaireMaybe I was in the wrong job, maybe I didn’t have a true vocation, maybe I was just bone lazy. Well, whatever it was I wasn’t one of those lucky people (although I just think they’re weird) who get great joy from their job. At best I thought of it as a means to an end, at worst a hell on earth.- ClaireAnd at times like that, when my guard was down, I allowed myself to miss him, to feel sad that he wasn’t there. But only for a moment. I didn’t like to miss him. I didn’t really like to think about him at all.- ClaireSometimes, you meet a wonderful person, but it’s only for a brief instant. Maybe on vacation or on a train or maybe even in a bus line. And they touch your life for a moment, but in a special way. And instead of mourning because they can’t be with you for longer, or because you don’t get the chance to know them better, isn’t it better to be glad that you met them at all?- ClaireNo one knows how strong they are until they have to be. – MomI suppose I must be acting like I don’t give a damn because I actually don’t give a damn I was only human.- ClaireIf you prick me do I not bleed? If you stick a gorgeous man under my nose, do I not want to rip the clothes off him? I mean, I don’t make the rules.- ClaireWhen happiness makes a guest appearance in one’s life, it’s important to make the most of it. It may not stay around for long and when it has gone wouldn’t it be terrible to think that all the time one could have been happy was wasted worrying about when that happiness would be taken away?- Claire
Opening Line:” ”I’m sorry, you must think I’m very rude. We’ve hardly even been introduced and here I am telling you all about the terrible things that have happened to me.”Claire thought she had the perfect life right up until her husband James announced that he didn’t love her anymore and was leaving her for another woman. He might have picked a better day to deliver this earth shattering news than directly after the birth of their first child. Shocked, heartbroken and now packing some serious baby weight, Claire flees London and retreats back to her dysfunctional family in Ireland to regroup. Claire’s idea of regrouping is of course to take to bed and only emerge when the baby needs feeding or she runs out of liquor.Eventually she does get out of bed, hitting her father’s dusty stationary bike to work off the rage and inadvertently the pounds. Yes her period of mourning has gone from devastation to depression to rage. And then she goes about starting her life again. Along the way one of her sisters drags home Adam, the cute, younger and (obviously unobtainable) man that honestly seems to be flirting with her. Before long Claire has almost forgotten James, well not really but he’s no longer her first waking thought and besides Adam has a really nice bum. So then the story gets kinda predictable because of course James comes slinking back. He has some interesting excuses for having his affair but now basically just wants everything to go back to the way it was!Okay I have to talk about James, what an asshat. I understand he is meant to the antagonist here but jeez. It’s not so much his character I am judging but that of the author deciding our heroine would actually be dumb enough to consider taking him back after the shit he pulled. I mean he hasn’t phoned once or even asked after his daughter, in fact doesn’t even know her name and to top it all off he blames Claire for the fact that he had an affair. And then Keyes continued to write him in such a way that he actually comes across a bit psycho, with moods changing on a dime (yes she loves to use idioms) and yet Claire still wants him in her daughter’s life. I would be doing everything I could to make sure he never had contact with her. Anyways.This was a super long book (614 pages) which wouldn’t have been an issue if the author had stayed on track. As it was this could have been cut by about 200 pages as the heroine’s silly (see annoying) inner dialogue prattled on with random off topic issues, spending 8 pages talking about the history off her parents’ liquor cabinet and other non-related issues. Some of her inner ramblings were funny but I’ll be honest it got to the point where I was skimming just to get on with the actual story (this continued for the entire 600 page read.) I did enjoy the sections where it was written as though the author/heroine is talking directly to the reader. However I still never got a real “feel" for her. I also had a hard time believing that she was a new mother, her baby is such a non-issue throughout this book, just part of the plot and then she remains in the background as an accessory while Claire goes about her binge drinking and depression at her parents’ house. And with that in mind I would have to describe this as bitter chick-lit because while it has its moments of humour its always with a harsh edge so that you’re not so much laughing as cringing. 380jb3.5
What do You think about Watermelon (2005)?
Of course I would love this book just because of it's genre but this is definintely at the top of my list. I guess because I'm actually going through such a similar situation as the character's (minus the baby) and so it touched the heart very closely. I love Claire's humor and how this book made me feel like I wasn't the only person out there going through a rollercoaster from murderous anger to guilt to all the other millions of emotions out there. It's all perceived as normal.Simiilar situations happen everyday and it's nice to know that it can be put into words in someone else's life and make you feel normal. Her dysfunctional family was an added bonus. And Adam. What a dream guy!!Definitely a picker-upper and made me feel whole lots better. Definitely for the chick-lit lovers!!
—Ashley
This book has the distinction of being the only book I've ever read that earned an extra star based on the author's pandering to my relationship psychoses. Had I read this book, say, 4 years ago, I would have given it 2 stars max because the main character spoke directly to me. Really. She spoke DIRECTLY to me as if narrating her whole life to someone she just met on the bus. It grated on my nerves for 200+ pages. But i kept going, cause that's what I do when I make it past page 100. Her asides (thoughts she had in her head during the pregnant pauses in her conversations with other people) were like nails on a chalkboard.But then the pandering started and I got suckered in. All because, yes, the circumstances of her divorce we similar to mine (minus the baby). I found myself reading entire chapters of the fighting with her estranged husband as if reading the transcripts of my own life painfully read back to me by an annoying court reporter. It was, frankly, unpleasant for me. The fact that the main character (shoot, I forgot her name already) got to sleep with a freakishly muscled (and intuitively sensitive) hottie 2 months after giving birth was a little like salt on the wound of my fragile ego. After all, I'm a smart, nice, young-ish gal, so where's my rebound hottie? Ok, I've abused poor Marian Keyes enough. I gave this 3 whole stars, but it deserves 2. I won't read her again. Rather, for my fluffy (and inevitable) chick-lit needs, I'll continue looking to Kathleen Tessaro, who creates stronger female characters that don't quite act like airheads. That's all. Oh, and she used the word "Pyrrhic" so that was cool. Giving Ms. Keyes some additional props.
—Irene
I read a couple of Marian Keyes's books back when I was in my late teens, I remember liking her style so I thought I would give this one a go. Although, to be honest, I hadn't realised that this was first published all the way back in 1996. If I say one thing it's that this had held up well, and apart from a few elements this doesn't feel aged at all.I loved reading the journey that Marian Keyes takes us on with her heroine. She was in a right ol' mess and we are with her for every high and every low. There is not 'perfect' heroine here, far from it, and there is no lack of honesty from the author about her character's sometimes terrible behaviour.The low moments in the journey are difficult to read but also funny, as well as endearing. I found I was sad for and frustrated at the heroine in equal measures.The narrative and 'breaking the fourth wall' style isn't my favourite, so for me this occasionally felt a little forced, however the writing is flawless - hard to believe this was Marian Keyes's debut.This is a magical story of a life in tatters and finding the will to get through it.Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
—RLA
